Dept. of Homeland Security Taps Into Blockchain
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate has awarded a total of $2.25 million in grants to three startups working with blockchain.
Overall, DHS said that it has awarded $9.7 million to 12 small businesses, including the three of working with blockchain.
The funding was part of DHS’ 13 Phase II contracts through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Each Phase II award contract received approximately $750,000 to develop a prototype based on the feasibility of the technologies demonstrated in the Phase I effort, which were completed in November 2016.
The DHS program is a competitive contract awards program designed to increase the participation of innovative and creative US small businesses in federal research and development initiatives and to increase private sector commercialization of SBIR-funded solutions.
The three blockchain startups awarded with Phase II contracts are:
*** BlockCypher, based in Redwood City, CA, a blockchain platform for multiple blockchains, applications, and analytics. BlockCypher’s Web Services enable companies to easily build blockchain applications with its web APIs and callbacks.
*** Evernym Inc., based in Herriman, Utah, is a decentralized key management using blockchain technology. The company is building an open-source global identity network on a permissioned distributed ledger.
*** Digital Bazaar, based in Blacksburg, VA, is a verifiable claims and fit-for-purpose decentralized ledgers. The company develops technology, services, and products that help integrate Linked Data, identity, and payments into the core architecture of the web.
“Small businesses play a key role in developing effective and innovative solutions to pressing homeland security challenges,” said DHS under secretary for Science and Technology (Acting) Dr. Robert Griffin. “The SBIR program enables us to capture some of the best scientific thinking to find solutions to apply in the current threat landscape.”
